‘Creed III’: Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson on Their ‘Very Weird’ Experience Before Filming

It’s no secret that Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson did a lot of work in preparation for Creed III. The duo, who first worked together on Creed in 2015, wanted to make sure that their characters felt as real and nuanced as possible. The actors did a deep exploration of who their characters were in this iteration of the trilogy, as individuals, as parents, and as a couple. They even did something together that Thompson considered “very weird,” but ultimately was a great way to explore their characters.

‘Creed III’ stars Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson used an unorthodox strategy for character preparation

Anyone who has seen Creed III knows that Thompson’s character, Bianca, encourages therapy throughout the movie. Interestingly enough, the importance of therapy wasn’t restricted to the film. As part of their character work, both Jordan and Thompson actually attended therapy together. “Mike and I actually went to therapy together,” Thompson revealed to Refinery29. “We did couples therapy.” 

But the actors didn’t go talk to a therapist as themselves. Instead, they went as Adonis and Bianca. It ended up being important to their process of building the history between their characters. Interestingly enough, there were times when their true selves really bled through, and both Jordan and Thompson seemed to slip in and out of character. “I’ll say it was an early experience in couples therapy for us both [personally], but it was as these characters, which is very weird,” the Passing alum explained. “But I think it reminded us of our own personal lives that going to therapy, even when a relationship is good, can be a good thing if you’re trying to just sharpen communication and figure out how someone works. It’s useful in so many relationships.” 

How the therapy session sometimes got deeply personal for the ‘Creed III’ actors

Continuing on, Thompson explained that therapy sometimes got intimate for her and Jordan. “We were in therapy, yes, as Bianca and Adonis, but we were also reflecting on our own relationships,” the Creed III star explained. “Since we’ve been making these movies for eight, nine years, we’ve seen each other through various stages in our own romantic things. So we know stuff about each other’s lives. We shared and talked about it. So therapy ended up starting at work and getting more personal.”

Jordan touted the benefits of therapy while hosting ‘SNL’

It seems that doing therapy for Creed III may have inspired Jordan to go to therapy as himself. While hosting Saturday Night Live! The Wire alum revealed that he was in therapy in his comedic monologue. And while it’s unclear who went to therapy first (Adonis or Jordan), it’s great that he spoke so openly about the importance of mental health. There are plenty of lessons that fans can take away from Creed III, but the benefits of therapy seem to be a big theme.